At around 9:00 I decided that I wanted something to help me with the pain of my contractions. I didn't think that I would be able to get an epidural yet, since the last time I was checked I was only at a 2, but my nurse had offered me something to "take the edge off". I had this with Miley, and I remember it just making me really loopy for a couple of hours, and then I just wanted my epidural. I went in this time thinking I would just get the epidural, but at this point I figured if I couldn't have the epidural, I may as well get this again. So I asked my nurse about it, and she said she could even just give me a half dose, but before I went for it, I decided to ask her when I could get my epidural. She told me I could get it at anytime, but that it may take about a half hour or so for them to get to me. I said that was fine, and I would wait, drug-free, until they could get to me. My nurse also said that once I was good and numb from the epi, they would check me again, and then if it was OK with my doctor, they would try to break my water.
The anesthesiologist finally got to me around 10:00 and everything was placed and I was feeling good by about 10:15. Cameron had to leave the room during this whole process because the whole epidural thing makes him kind of queasy. He doesn't mind anything else about the whole birth process, but for some reason he can't stomach that huge needle going into my back. :) The nurse checked me, and I had gotten to a 3 1/2. I figured at this point I would have a few hours to catch up on some missed sleep from the previous night, watch some shows with Cameron and generally just "relax." So I was pretty happy that I would have some time to kill (or at least, that's what I thought!).
Pretty excited that the epidural was coming...excuse the severe look of exhaustion in these pics...no sleep in a 28 hour period can do that to ya...
Last shot of the pregnant belly...and yes, like I said, I was as tired as I look...scary!
The nurses, and a resident then tried to break my water. They couldn't ever really do it, and they never really knew if it had already broken, or if I had slowly been leaking the whole time. Either way, there was not anything to break, and I am not sure that anyone ever really figured out what had happened...kind of weird.
A little while later, (maybe around 10:45?) the nurses put an internal monitor on Landon's head. I thought that they were doing this because the belt monitor wasn't taking good readings at this point. It took about 3 different nurses, and probably half an hour of them trying over and over to finally get it placed. While they were doing this, I had progressed to a 6. I think this is when I realized that the nap I was planning on wasn't going to happen. After getting the monitor placed was when things started getting a little scary...
They had placed the internal monitor to get a better reading of Landon's heart rate, because for some reason it was hovering around the 70 range, and was not getting back to the 115-120 range where it should have been. They had me lay on my left side, roll over to the right, put on oxygen, and then finally get on my hands and knees to get his heartrate somewhat stablized. However, it kept having slight decelerations. I assumed everything was fine though, and then out of the blue my nurse said, "Just so you know, if his heart doesn't get back up to where it needs to be, we will be putting you under and going in for an emergency c-section." Obviously after hearing this, I started freaking out a little bit, and then ever more when the OB-GYN on call came running into my room after being paged (the one who would do the c-section if need be), to check out the sheet with Landon's heartrate on it. She said we would probably be fine for at least another 20 minutes and to keep checking on it.
My doctor finally arrived around 11:30, checked me, (I was at an 8). She also reviewed what had been going on with Landon's heart, and determined that we would be OK to try a normal delivery, since I seemed to be going quickly enough, but she also said that we would have to have the NICU team in the room to check on baby Landon immediately after he was born, because they weren't sure if he would be breathing, or if he would have a cord around his neck, or what. They weren't really sure what was going on. She left to go get her scrubs on and get prepped for delivery. Within the next 30 minutes I was complete, and ready to push.
I started pushing at noon, and was doing all I could to get this kid out fast (they said I would have to get him out quick in order to avoid a c-section). My doctor though, to speed things up, told me I would probably need a small episiotomy, in order to get him out just a little quicker. After that, he came out with the next set of pushing at 12:35 pm.
I didn't get to hold him on my chest right away, because the NICU team had to check him out first. Fortunately, he was totally fine, and even had an APGAR score of 9.9. They weren't really sure what caused the stress on him, but they told me that they think it was because I went so quickly (from a 3 1/2 to a 10 in about an hour and half) and that can stress a baby out.
Finally getting to hold him after he was checked out by the NICU...and wow...those double chins that I am rocking are AWESOME!! ;)
We were so grateful that everything went as well as it did, and looked forward to bonding with sweet little Landon!
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